Resource

Smart cities vital to beat the elements

Important research is looking at counteractive measures to urban heat island effect from the best materials to reflect urban heat to the best technology and urban design to keep us cool. What we can do now is make our cities, where the majority live, smarter, healthier and increasingly more liveable.

Australians have world leading levels of urban resource consumption and carbon emissions – an unsustainable position in the 21 st century. Survey research at the Centre for Urban Transitions reveals that the known determinants of our large urban ecological footprints are...Read more

Industry misconceptions around high cost and poor market interest in energy efficient homes continue to obstruct the mass adoption of low carbon housing. Josh’s House demonstrates that low carbon housing is accessible and cost effective. The Star Performers series showcases how...Read more

Research showed that one-quarter of Sydney respondents were open to consolidating property for sale with neighbours. However, consolidated lot sales are not part of the business model of most real estate agencies, local government, or property developers. It’s an area where the...Read more

The sustainability challenge requires experimentation with innovations, followed by an upscaling process towards a broader regime change in the long term. In Europe we observe various regional hotspots for sustainability experimentation which suggests that there are favorable spatial contexts.

Cities today absorb the bulk of the world’s natural resources, and their solid, liquid and gaseous wastes are often carelessly dumped somewhere in nature. But ‘environmental boomerangs’ are increasingly in evidence: In their own self-interest, cities urgently need to reduce their environmental impacts and ecological footprints, and to contribute towards regenerating damaged ecosystems.

As the 21st century unfolds, an increasing majority of the world’s population will live in cities. Human wellbeing in cities relies on a complex web of interconnected institutions, infrastructure and information. People are drawn to cities as centres of economic activity, opportunity and innovation.